Dallas at San Antonio (February 13)
It was a close 1st quarter with 6 ties and 6 lead changes and the largest
lead either team held was only 3 points. It was all tied up at 22-22 after
1. Tim Duncan had 9 points and 5 rebounds and Michael Finley had 10
points. Dallas led 30-28 with 8:30 remaining. Finley was subbed out and
the whole game seemed to change as the Mavs' offense disappeared and then
their defense followed as San Antonio rattled off the next 13 points to go
up 41-30 with 3:50 remaining. Howard Eisley scored Dallas' last 7 points
of the quarter to keep the Mavs in the game. San Antonio led 51-41 at the
half. San Antonio shot 13-18 FG in the 2nd quarter and Dallas shot 8-19
FG. Consecutive 3-pointers gave San Antonio a 62-46 lead with 9 minutes
left. San Antonio led in the teens the rest of the quarter and led 71-61
after 3. San Antonio scored the first 11 points of the 4th quarter as
Dallas could not find the basket and led 82-61 with 9 minutes remaining.
The Mavs finally their first field goal of the quarter when Finley got a
layup with 4:30 left and Dallas went on a 10-1 run to pull within 79-91
with 3 minutes left. Dallas was implementing hack-a-Duncan, but he hit 3
of his last 4 free throw attempts and Dallas was unable to cut San
Antonio's lead into single digits. San Antonio won 104-92.
Well, the Spurs stepped on the Mavs in the 2nd quarter and never let them
back in. The Spurs were shooting great as the Mavs' rotation defense was
off (they'd double-team Duncan and not rotate to the open man quick
enough). San Antonio shot 11-16 FG in the 4th (Dallas shot 9-22 FG). For
the game, San Antonio shot 52.1% FG including 9-16 3-pointers while Dallas
shot 40.7% FG. The Spurs also out-rebounded Dallas 42-40, despite the fact
that Dallas held an 18-12 rebounding advantage in the 1st quarter. Tim
Duncan led the way for San Antone with 28 points including 14-24 FT and 15
rebounds. Danny Ferry, Antonio Daniels, and Avery Johnson were the
sharp-shooters for the Spurs. Ferry had 16 points on 6-8 FG and 4-4
3-pointers. Daniels had 18 points on 8-10 FG. Avery Johnson, in his first
game in two months, had 14 points on 7-10 FG, including 4 layups [he always
gets at least 2 layups against the Mavs]. That's 21-28 FG for those 3
players. And the Spurs won handily despite David Robinson's donut - only
the 2nd scoreless game of his career. For the Mavs, Michael Finley started
strong (10 points, 4-8 FG in the first), but struggled in the 2nd and 3rd
quarters (5 points, 2-9 FG) as the Spurs were focusing on him. He finished
with 26 points. Dirk Nowitzki had a nice game with 30 points and 10
rebounds. Howard Eisley was the only other Mav in double digits with 13
points. Steve Nash did not play due to his strained left hamstring.
Quotes
Gregg Popovich: "The guys did an excellent defensive job on a very good
basketball team with the personality for scoring. This is one of the 3 or 4
games we've played where we've played defense for 48 minutes."
Popovich: "Danny Ferry did his job just the way we hope he does every night.
Most people will remember the 3s he made, but his defense was key all
night."
Popovich on Johnson's return: "I guess that's just a tribute to his
experience. He looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Most guys who were
gone that long would have been a little rusty or forget a play or get a
little nervous on a shot. But Avery came loaded to bear."
Avery Johnson: "Words cannot describe how I felt tonight. I couldn't have
planned it any better. It is always great to get a win, but the way we did
it made it special. We played great defense against a strong offensive
team."
David Robinson: "Danny Ferry was outstanding coming off the bench and
hitting shots. Everyone that came in did a great job. Against a team like
Dallas, I may not get a lot of opportunities. I just didn't knock them
down."
Danny Ferry: "Danny [Antonio Daniels? - or maybe the quote was attributed
incorrectly?] and the whole guard corps was incredible. They were great.
They shot the ball well and moved the ball around. They made the right
decisions."
Donn Nelson: "That team can do that to you. I thought they had everything
clicking tonight; even Avery was making shots. It was like picking your
poison. There was nobody that was cold out there tonight."
Nelson: "They give us all kinds of matchup problems, and we just couldn't
get it clicking. Our main guys didn't have a good enough game. I thought
our bench guys played okay, but we didn't have any real spurts to get us
over the hump. I thought we played well, although not well enough
defensively. No miracles against good teams that know how to put away
games, and that's what the San Antonio Spurs are."
Nelson: "We're still a young team, and a lot of times if we don't click
offensively it has a tendency to show itself on the defensive end."
Nelson: "As long as Tim has it going and they have the outside game took
they can win [with Robinson not scoring]."
Michael Finley: "They played a great game and gave us all we could handle.
I thought the key was their bench, Danny Ferry in particular. That's what
gave them the win."
Dirk Nowitzki: "They made their shots and today they were the better team.
San Antonio is probably the best team in the league right now. They have so
many guys."
Hubert Davis: "It just didn't work out for us tonight. We're very upset
about it."
San Antonio Spurs 104, Dallas Mavericks 92 at San Antonio (January 13)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
San Antonio 22 29 20 33 - 104 .509 .563 .521 .613
Dallas 22 19 20 31 - 92 .417 .357 .407 .850
Halftime: San Antonio 51-41
3rd Q: San Antonio 71-61
Technicals: Christian Laettner 9:35 1st
Refs: Steve Javie, Ted Bernhardt, Monty McCutchen
Attendance: 17,705 (cap 20,557)
Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (sore left hamstring)
San Antonio Spurs REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Tim Duncan 39 7-15 0-1 14-24 28 2-15 6 4 4 0 6
Danny Ferry 30 6-8 4-4 0-0 16 3-8 1 4 5 1 0
David Robinson 21 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 1-5 0 2 3 0 0
Derek Anderson 41 3-12 1-4 3-3 10 1-4 6 1 3 3 0
Terry Porter 31 5-10 2-5 1-2 13 0-2 2 0 0 2 1
Antonio Daniels 32 8-10 2-2 0-0 18 0-3 4 1 1 1 0
Samaki Walker 19 2-2 0-0 1-2 5 1-3 1 2 4 0 0
Avery Johnson 23 7-10 0-0 0-0 14 0-2 3 1 1 1 1
Ira Newble 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Derrick Dial 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Totals 48 38-73 9-16 19-31 104 8-42 23 16 21 8 8
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Dirk Nowitzki 42 10-18 2-5 8-8 30 2-10 2 2 2 1 3
Gary Trent 21 4-13 0-0 0-0 8 4-8 0 0 2 2 1
Christian Laettner 7 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 1 3 0 0
Howard Eisley 41 4-12 2-4 3-4 13 0-4 2 2 5 0 0
Michael Finley 44 10-23 1-3 5-6 26 0-5 2 4 4 2 1
Loy Vaught 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 2 1 0
Greg Buckner 27 0-3 0-1 1-2 1 4-4 3 1 5 1 0
Hubert Davis 25 4-8 0-1 0-0 8 1-2 0 1 2 1 0
Shawn Bradley 23 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 2-5 0 1 2 1 2
Courtney Alexander 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 35-86 5-14 17-20 92 13-40 10 14 27 9 7
Cleveland at Dallas (February 15)
The good news to start the game is that Steve Nash returned to action and
started. Despite Nash's return, Cleveland opened with a 13-8 lead with
7:30 left before Dallas came on strong with a 20-4 run to go up 28-17 with
1:15 remaining as Dallas shot 9-11 FG and Cleveland shot 1-9 FG during the
run. Dallas led 31-21 after 1. Michael Finley had 10 points. Dallas shot
13-19 FG and Cleveland shot 8-19 FG. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with a
10-4 run to take a 16 point lead at 41-25 with 8:30 to go. Dallas led
47-32 with 6 minutes left and Cleveland scored the next 12 points to pull
within 44-47 with 3 minutes left before Shawn Bradley finally ended Dallas'
3 1/2 minute drought with a two-handed slam with 2:40 remaining. Dallas
led 52-46 at the half. Obviously, Dallas' shooting slacked off in the 2nd
quarter, down to 9-24 FG, and Cleveland shot 10-23 FG. Dallas led 56-51
with 10:20 left and scored the next 6 points to go up 62-51 with 8:30
remaining. Cleveland again cut the Mavs' lead down to 5 points at 64-59
with 4 minutes and Dallas closed the quarter strong with a 11-2 run and led
75-61 after 3. Dallas led 79-65 with 10:25 remaining and put the game away
with a 16-3 run to lead 95-68 with 6 minutes remaining. Dallas won 102-81.
Showing exactly why your stars should never play in garbage time, Andre
Miller was carried from the court with 4:13 left as he sprained his ankle.
Fortunately, he doesn't think he will miss any games due to the injury.
The controversy of the night and what the game will be remembered for
occurred with 3.3 seconds left. The Mavs have a promotion where if the
team wins and scores 100 points, the fans get a coupon for a free chalupa.
So, naturally, the fans started cheering for chalupas over the last 3
minutes of the game and, of course, Dallas was having trouble scoring. So,
ignoring the usual decorum of running out the clock, the Mavs, with 98
points, kept setting up plays to try to reach 100 points. They missed on 3
attempts with 30 seconds left and Cleveland missed with 20 seconds left.
Courtney Alexander was fouled with 13 seconds left, but missed the first
and second free throws, but the ball went out of bounds off of Cleveland.
The Mavs set up a play and Gary Trent got off a jumper at the top of the
key. After he released the ball, Wesley Person slammed into Trent and
both went to the floor as the ball went in. The two scuffled and were
separated. And most bizarre was the site of Mavs owner Mark Cuban coming
down the sideline as the scuffle was going on. He got to midcourt before
deciding that it was a bad idea and the ref telling him to get back. The
end result of the incident was a double technical on Trent and Person, a
flagrant foul 1 on Person, and a technical ejection for Cleveland assistant
coach Mike Woodson. Since Trent made the basket, he was given 2 free throw
attempts to make 1. He missed the first and made the second. The Mavs
inbounded the ball and let time expire. To make things more bizarre (as I
thought there was a missing free throw), Trent had to come back out after a
few minutes and shoot the free throw for Woodson's technical. He hit it
for the final margin.
Aargh. How to take the enjoyment out of a win. The free promotions sound
good until something like this happens. Back in 84-85, if the Mavs won and
scored 125 points, everyone got free pizzas [trivia: who hit all 4 pizza
shots?]. They only did it for one season as the Mavs actually lost a game
trying to get the pizzas and nearly lost another one. I understand how
Cleveland was upset with Dallas trying to score points when the normal
[classier] thing is to run out the clock. And I understand the Mavs trying
to get to 100 for the fans. It's a bad situation and neither side comes
out looking good. But under no circumstances should Person have tackled
Trent. And under no circumstances should have Cuban gone on the court. It
is no different than a fan going on to the court. The NBA fined Cuban
$10,000 and suspended him for 2 games for going on the court [it's automatic
fine for a team official going on the court]. [trivia answer: Dale Ellis]
Despite all the garbage that went on, the Mavs won a game the way they
should have - easily. Michael Finley did not even play in the 4th quarter.
With only 31 minutes, Finley had 17 points including 7-11 FG. Dirk
Nowitzki had 17 points and 15 rebounds. And Shawn Bradley had a perfect
game with 13 points on 5-5 FG and 3-3 FT in 19 minutes. Also in double
digits points were Howard Eisley (12 points), Steve Nash (11 points), and
Greg Buckner (11 points). Dallas out-rebounded Cleveland 48-37 and Dallas
shot 51.8% FG and Cleveland shot 40.3% FG. Andre Miller and Jim Jackson
(though 6 of his points came in garbage time) had 14 points each. Chucky
Brown (10 points) and Robert Traylor (11 points) were the only other
Cavs in double digits.
Quotes
Don Nelson: "The Mavericks even find a way to make the 20 point blowouts
exciting."
Nelson: "I think Stevie got us off to a great start. It wasn't so much the
offense, because he was struggling with that tonight, but it was defense.
It was all the things off the ball that Stevie does so well. I'm so pleased
to have him back and healthy."
Michael Finley: "This was a good win for us, the kind of win we need to
start off this homestand. We played a team we definitely can beat and it's
a big win for us at this particular time."
Finley: "They were frustrated and they felt we were trying to run up the
score or put it in their face. The guys who were out there playing were
guys who were getting limited minutes, so they're going to make the most of
their playing time. I could see if our starters were still out there, but
those were guys who haven't been playing that much this year and just wanted
to score. Cleveland took it a little personal and it got kind of rough."
Finley on Cuban running on the court: "Players run on the court and
something usually happens. Owners sit on the floor and something happens.
When an owner runs on the court, it's yet to be seen what happens."
Steve Nash: "I'm a little out of shape, but most importantly I got through
without tweaking [the hamstring] again, and that was my biggest fear. I
feel a lot more confident this time. The last time, I still was unsure.
Tonight, I felt really quite sure and didn't have any lingering mental side
effects from past injuries. So I feel positive."
Nash: "I completely understand them being disappointed. We really shouldn't
be running up the score, but on the other hand, these are our home fans and
we have to repay them. There's not too many legends in this locker room,
but Gary Trent is now a chalupa legend."
Gary Trent: "Our fans were booing us, and that's why I was trying to score -
not to rub it in."
Trent: "I told Wesley, 'You wouldn't do that if we were on the street.' He
was listening to Traylor, that's what it was. Traylor was yelling, 'If they
try to score, hurt him' and he did that [stuff], that's all. Wesley's an
older veteran, he shouldn't let a young player hype him up like that anyway.
Tractor was guarding me, he could have fouled me, right? If he really
wanted to hurt somebody, why didn't the man that I shook foul me? It was
all unnecessary."
Randy Wittman: "You don't rub it in anybody's face. That's what they did.
I thought our guys did the right thing. We'll remember it."
Wittman: "That's unprofessional. I don't care what they have to say. You
ask anyone in the league - do you run the clock out or do you try to
embarrass somebody? We'll remember it."
Wittman: "I defend our guys. They had 3 straight possessions to run the
clock out. That's what you do as professionals. I'm not a firm believer
in rubbing it in anyone's face and that's what they did. I don't care what
they say. We'll remember this. That will come back around."
Wittman on what he said to Nelson: "I told him he was unprofessional. That
will come back. You know that will come back. That gets around. That
word gets around on what type of guy, if he did orchestrate that, that will
get around."
Andre Miller: "I think we still stick together. We're not going to get down
on ourselves, we're going to keep fighting through this, working through
it."
Miller on his sprained ankle (he expects to play in the next game): "It was
just a little tweak. I landed on somebody's foot, but it's all right."
Jim Jackson: "It's more frustrating than anything else. We've gone through
injuries. That plays a major role because you don't have the same kind of
continuity going into games. You have different lineups, different people.
It makes it tougher to play like that, but the only thing you can do is keep
plugging, keep working and try to put a complete game together. We've put a
few quarters together, but not enough to win the game."
Clarence Weatherspoon: "Everybody has got their own situation. If they're
playing for a chalupa or whatever the hell it was, you know, hey, that's
their thing. That's what it boiled down to."
Wesley Person on fouling Trent: "It was a hard, clean foul. I was not
trying to hurt him. We let them know on the free throw line the play
before, 'OK, that's enough.' It's showing disrespect to our team. Somebody
had to step up and let them know not to do that stuff. It's bigger than
chalupas. I'm sure they see people are not going to go hungry without
chalupas."
Person: "It's bigger than chalupas. Their coach called a play with 10
seconds left in a 20 point game. That's disrespect."
Robert Traylor: "I mean they were up, the game was over. To us it was an
embarrassing situation. They were still trying to score points. The game
was over. Being professional, being an NBA player, you don't try to
embarrass anybody. It's just being professional. You usually take the
ball out, run the time out and that was the game."
Dallas Mavericks 102, Cleveland 81 at Dallas (February 15)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 31 21 23 27 - 102 .556 .273 .518 .650
Cleveland 21 25 15 20 - 81 .417 .200 .403 .783
Halftime: Dallas 52-46
3rd Q: Dallas 75-61
Technicals: Dallas Illegal D 3:14 1st, Randy Wittman 2:07 3rd, Gary Trent
0:03 4th, Wesley Person 0:03 4th, Mike Woodson 0:03 4th (ejected)
Flagrant Fouls: Wesley Person 0:03 4th
Refs: Ronnie Nunn, Sean Corbin, Dee Kantner
Attendance: 14,265 (cap 18,187)
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Michael Finley 31 7-11 0-0 3-4 17 2-4 4 6 1 1 1
Dirk Nowitzki 36 8-17 0-1 1-2 17 4-15 2 3 3 1 3
Christian Laettner 22 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 1-5 2 2 4 2 0
Howard Eisley 39 5-12 1-4 1-2 12 0-3 5 0 1 3 0
Steve Nash 29 4-7 1-2 2-3 11 0-2 2 2 2 1 0
Gary Trent 12 1-5 0-0 2-2 4 2-4 0 2 2 1 1
Greg Buckner 22 5-8 0-0 1-2 11 4-8 2 0 3 0 0
Shawn Bradley 19 5-5 0-0 3-3 13 1-4 0 0 3 0 0
Hubert Davis 18 4-8 1-4 0-0 9 0-0 1 2 0 1 0
Courtney Alexander 6 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0 3 0 0
Mark Bryant 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 43-83 3-11 13-20 102 15-48 18 17 22 10 5
Cleveland Cavaliers REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Cedric Henderson 22 4-9 0-0 0-0 8 3-4 1 3 3 1 0
Clarence Weatherspoon 34 2-7 0-0 1-1 5 2-8 0 2 2 0 1
Chucky Brown 23 3-9 0-0 4-4 10 1-3 0 0 1 0 1
Trajan Langdon 23 3-6 1-3 0-0 7 1-2 1 1 0 1 0
Andre Miller 31 5-13 0-1 4-4 14 1-6 7 5 5 3 0
Jim Jackson 31 6-10 0-0 2-5 14 2-4 3 2 2 2 0
Chris Gatling 17 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 2 0 0
Lamond Murray 16 1-7 0-0 0-0 2 1-3 1 2 2 0 0
Bimbo Coles 17 3-6 0-1 2-2 8 0-3 2 0 2 1 1
Robert Traylor 16 3-5 0-0 5-7 11 0-0 2 0 1 1 1
Chris Mihm 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 1 1 0 0
Wesley Person 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 1
Totals 48 31-77 1-5 18-23 81 11-37 17 17 23 9 5
patricia